Fricassee Chicken, Morels, and Wine

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1 15

Servings: people

This fricassée chicken, morels, and wine is already a winner; add the cream, and things get seriously delicious. The sherry’s nutty kick dances with the earthy morels, creating a flavor combination that feels both indulgent and deeply satisfying.

Ingredients

For The Chicken

4 leg quarters skin on
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

For The Sauce

10 dry morel mushrooms
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
2 small shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup dry sherry, or white wine
1 cup of the morels soaking juice
1 cup heavy cream
salt and black pepper, to taste
fresh thyme, optional

US - Metric

Instructions

Soak your morel mushrooms in warm water for 20–30 minutes until rehydrated. Drain, strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve, and reserve. Set the rehydrated morels aside. Make sure you remove any liquid from the cavity of the morels.
Season your leg quarters with salt and pepper.
Heat the two tablespoons of unsalted butter and oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the leg quarters, skin-side down, and cook until golden and crispy (about 10 minutes). Turn and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Remove all cooking fat from the skillet and return to the stove. Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining butter. Once melted, add the shallots and sauté until translucent, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the crushed garlic if using it.
Add the chicken stock and deglaze any bits from the chicken that may have stuck to the skillet. Return the chicken to the skillet. Cover and simmer over low heat, reducing the stock by half, about 10 minutes. Add the reserved morel soaking liquid and reduce again, covered for about another 10 minutes.
Add the dry sherry or wine to the skillet. Reduce the liquid for 5 minutes, then add the cream and morels.
Cover and simmer until all the chicken is fully cooked, about 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Equipment

Notes

The success of crispy chicken skin is that once you place it on your skillet to brown, do not touch it. Leave alone for at least five to seven minutes. Then, gently push it with your cooking tongs. If you still feel resistance, do not think to turn it over, as the skin will be stuck to the skillet, not the chicken piece.

Chicken: I am a huge fan of chicken quarters, thighs, and drumsticks, so I always gravitate towards them. For this dish, you can utilize a whole chicken and ask your butcher to cut it into 12 pieces. That will give you four pieces of breast, each cut in half.

Due to the nature of the white meat, it will cook faster; therefore, you will need to make a small change in the cooking process. When you are ready to add all the chicken pieces back into your skillet with the chicken stock (see the recipe below), hold the breasts back until the stock and morels soaking liquid are reduced by half.

Please add them back to the skillet while adding the wine, and then proceed with the recipe.

Use white wine, dry sherry, or Vin Jaune if you can find some.

The key to success for this recipe is adding each liquid one at a time and reducing thereafter. You are building flavor, and each liquid adds a layer of flavor. Do not add all the liquids simultaneously; you will not achieve that amazing flavor.

Nutrition

Giangi's Kitchen provides nutritional information, but these figures should be considered estimates, as a registered dietician does not calculate them.